Wire-stretcher



(No Model.) A' J. M. MERRITT.

WIRE STRBTCHER.

N0. 416,005. r NOV. 26, 1889'.

WW1/wow@ guna/16oz UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES M. MERRITT, OF MARENGO, ASSIGNOR TO THE SCIIREII-ER da CON CHAR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF DUBUQUE, IOIVA.

WIRE-STRETCHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNo. 416,005, dated November 26, 1889.

Application tiled February 21, 1889. Serial No. 300,715. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, J AMES M. MERRITT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Marengo, in the county of Iowa and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Iire-Stretchersy and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,

clear, and exact description of the invention,.

which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to various new and useful improvements in wire-stretchers, such as are now used for the purpose of building wire fences or for other purposes.

The variety of wire-stretchers to which my invention has particular reference is that in which a serrated bar is used, with which a pair of pawls or dogs engage; but wirestretchers built in accordanee with my present invention are much more advantageous than those heretofore used, in that the handle may be operated in any position, and the pawls or dogs will always engage with the serrated rod, and in case the length of movement of the pawls is insuiiicient to establish the requisite amount of tension or tautness the wire can be held in such semi-taut condition, and the pawls returned to the beginning of their path of movement, and in this way the wire may be stretched to any degree necessary; also, by the use of my invention I am enabled to manufacture the .wire-stretchcrs much more economically than heretofore, and

at the same time the articles are much stronger than the prior wire-stretchers.

The details of my invention will be fully hereinafter described and claimed, and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, wherein similar elements are designated by identical letters of reference in each view. In the drawg ings the following views are shown:

should be distinctly understood thatIam not4 limited to this material. It should be also understood that the action of the parts may be reversed-that is to say, instead of having the serrated bar stationary and the pawls movable the reverse may be just as appropriate and useful.

The bar A is provided with serrations or notches along one of its edges, and is made of 6o any convenient length. To the extreme end of this bar is pivoted a link a, and engaging with this link is a chain l), or, instead of a chain, it might be equally convenient to make use of a wire. This chain or Wire should be of a length sufficient to enable it to encircle one of the fence-posts; and in order that it maybe held securely in position around such post I make use of an ordinary clampinghook B. At the other end of the bar A is a 7o similar link a', and engaging therewith is another wire-clamp O, provided with an eccentric cam, and the particular object of this clamp O will be more fully hereinafter described and claimed. On opposite sides of the bar A are the two rods c e', connected at their upper and lower extremities by means of rivets or set-screws 6; or, instead of making use of these two rods e c', it might bey as advisable to employ a single lever with a 8o mortise therein for the ent-rance of the bar A.

Pivoted between the two rods e c,near the extreme lower ends thereof, on the rivet or set-screw e, is a dog or pawl f, provided with a sharpened or pointed portion f', engaging 85 with the series of teeth on the bar A, and with a trailing portion f, adapted to move forward over the serrated edge of said bar. This dog f is held in position between the rods e c with an amount of friction sufficient to 9c make said dog move with the movements of said rods e c', which constitute the operatinghandle of the device. Pivoted to the operating-handle on the other side of the bar A from the dog f is a link g, and attached to this link is a wire clamp D, similar in con` struction to the clamp C. One end of a connecting-rod his pivoted between the two rods e e at about their point of connection with the link g, and this connecting-rod is preferably `Ioo pivoted to said rods e e bythe same pivotingpin as said link, although this is of course not absolutely necessary. Pivoted on each side of the other extremity of said connecting-rod 7L are the short rods i i', extending down on each side of the bar A, and provided between their lower extremities with a dog j, very similar to the dog f, and held with a considerable degree of friction between said short rods fi 'i'. Connecting the lower eX- tremities of these rods 'L' f with the operatinghandle, at a point somewhat above the pivotin g-point of the con meeting-rod h, are a couple of connecting-rods 71; 7e', pivoted, preferably, to the outside of both the rods e c and the rods fi fi.

Such a wire-stretcher as l have just described is capable of many changes without departing from the spiritof my invention. For inst-ance, where I have mentioned the use of double connecting-rods, it lmight be possible to make use of but a single rod.

.The action of the device is as follows: The chain b is iirst attached to a fence-post, as before described, or instead directly to the wire by means of the clamp-hook, the dogs f and are advanced until they are at the por-` tion. nearest the clamp C, and the clamp D is secured tothe wire that is to be stretched. The operating-handle is now moved backward and forward by the operator, and the dogs are caused to move on the bar by means of the connecting-rods, &c. This movement of the dogs is in detail as follows: The wire that is being stretched will exert its resistance on` the operating-handle at the pivotingpoint yof the link g, so that this point also acts as the pivoting-point for the operating-handle when lit yis moved. A movement then of the top of the operating-handle away from the clamp C will cause the dog f to engage with one `oi the teeth on the serrated bar A, and the clampD will be moved backward, as will also the dogj, by means of the connecting-rods 7c 7d and 7l. Since the connecting-rods 7c 7a are pivoted to the operating-handle some distance above the rod 7i, they will necessarily have a longer movement than the rod 7L, and the lower extremities of the rods '17, to which said connecting-rodsk 7s are pivoted, will be moved farther than their upper ends,`so that the said rods z' e" will be thrown out of a vertical into an inclined plane. As the pawl j'is frictionally held between said rods i '7, it would follow that the said dog would be forced also into an inclined plane if it were not for the fact that the trailing portion of said dog` will come into contact with the serrated edge of the bar A, but will not of course engage withthe teeth thereof, because it passes backwardly over them, and the said dog j will still continue to remain in a practically horizontal plane as it is moved backward.

Y \Vhen the handle is now moved toward theA clamp C, it willvbe apparent that the following movements will take place. The connecting-rods 7c 71: will necessarily have a longer movement than the rod 7L and the short rods t' t" and pawl j will be moved a short distance until the pawl j engages with one of the teeth of the serrated bar A. It will now be seen that the bearing-point of the operating-handle will be changed to the pivoting-point of the connecting-rods 7f3 7.5', so that the lower portion of the operating-handle will-be moved backwardly, carrying' the clamp D and the pawl or dog f, and the trailing portion of the latter will operate precisely like that of the pawl or dog A backward motion of the operating-handle will cause the engagement of the pawl j, &c. If it should happen that the movements of the clampD are insufficient to stretch the wire to the requisite degree, the clamp C, at the forward portion of the serrated bar A, is used to retain the wire in its semi-stretched condition while the pawls or dogs are being returned to their forward position, when the clamp D is again attached to the wire and the stretching operation continued. to be held in place by friction, it will be apparent that the stretcher can be operated in any position, which is 'of great advantage when the stretcher is usedradjacent to the fence-posts or other obstructions.

It should not be understood that the word stretch when used in this specification is to be taken in its literal sense, for in reality the wire is not stretched, but only made Very taut.

Having now described my invention, what l claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. As a new article of manufacture, a wirestretcher provided with a serrated rod A, two dogs or pawls engaging therewith, an operating-handle for actuating said dogs or pawls, a clamp-hook D, pivoted to said handle, a clamp-hook C, pivoted to the forward end of the said serrated bar, and a clamp-hook B, connected to the rear end of said bar by means of a chain 79, and combined and arranged and operating substantially as set forth,

In a ire-stretcher, the combination of a serrated bar A, an operating-handle, a wire clamp D, attached to said handle, a pawl or dog f at the lower end of said handle, the connecting-rod 7L, pivoted to said handle and to the connecting-rods 27 i', the pawl or dog j at the lower end of said connecting-rods i t', and the connecting-rods 7e 7e', connecting said handle with the lower end of said connecting-rods z' i', all combined and arranged substantially as and for the purposes setforth.

ln testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES M. MERRITT. lvitnesses:

J. H. BRANCH, Q.. P. RENO.

By making the pawls or dogs so as IOO IIO 

